David Russell Wagoner (1926–2021) was an American poet, novelist, and educator. He is known for his evocative poems about the lush landscape of the Pacific Northwest, notably “Staying Alive” and “Lost.”
Born in Massillon, Ohio, Wagoner attended the Navy ROTC program at Pennsylvania State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1947. He finished a master’s degree at Indiana University in 1949 and took teaching appointments at DePauw University (1949–50,) Penn State (1950–54,) and the University of Washington in Seattle (1954–2020.)
Wagoner’s first book of poetry, Dry Sun, Dry Wind (1953,) and the novels The Man in the Middle (1954) and Money, Money, Money (1955) reminisced the polluted industrial town between Gary, Indiana, and Chicago, where he was raised. His second collection, A Place to Stand (1958,) was his first foray into his trademark nature-writing.
Wagoner’s other compilations of poetry include The Nesting Ground (1963,) Good Morning and Good Night (2005,) and After the Point of No Return (2012.) The Escape Artist (1965,) for which he is best known, was made into a film (1982) produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Wagoner was an editor for Poetry Northwest for 30 years; it was the only national magazine dedicated entirely to poetry for many years. Wagoner’s final works include The House of Song: Poems (2002) and After the Point of No Return (2012.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by David Wagoner
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
—David Wagoner
Topics: Nature
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